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Pixelmator 1.6.2: the Ars Technica review

Everywhere you turn, people are trying out and talking about a new image …

The Consumer-specific tools

Since Pixelmator is aimed mainly at hobbyists, it has a number of consumer-oriented features like export options for various Web galleries (Flickr, Facebook and Picasa):￼

Even just setting up a Facebook album looks like you're hacking into the mainframe.

My quick testing of the Facebook uploads showed it working fine, flattening out layered documents and exporting to JPEG without issue.

Camera support

The program comes with iSight integration, so you can create layers directly from shots taken with your computer's camera:

With a grainy 2008 iSight, writing in my kitchen is not as glamorous as it should look.

And that's about it. Maybe I shouldn't have created a whole section for the consumer-oriented features, since these few options aren't very meaty, so let's see how Pixelmator fares relative to the similar hobbyist or cheap image editors.

Compared to the competition

First, let's set the record straight: Pixelmator can't compete with Photoshop, with the latter now at a substantial version 12. For every feature that Pixelmator has, there's a lot a professional would find a missing deal-breaker. I always chuckle when I read the ubiquitous "Photoshop is all bloat now" post in my reviews of Adobe's latest version. They are still doing a very good job at adding compelling features, and many—like Smart Objects, content-aware fill, and Adjustment Layers—have become essential parts of my workflow for 3D illustration compositing, retouching, and magazine layout. But let's be fair and see how it compares to apps that are meant for similar end users.

Pixelmator vs Photoshop Elements 9

Photoshop Elements wears its intended market on its rather tacky sleeve. Pixelmator has more interface effects but I find the Photoshop Elements interface a bit patronizing, with its billboard menus in 48pt type:

If I didn't know better, I'd say that Photoshop Elements was the brainchild of the gray pixel lobby. Click here for full size.

But I'm not this app's intended market, so I can't fault it for being profoundly legible; my grandma would appreciate an image editor to complement her large type edition of Scrabble. PSE is chock full of features, and you can see from the filter set at the right that Adobe has a large roster of tools, filters and services that appeal to consumers. Aside from the token stuff like red-eye removal and auto-enhancement, Photoshop Elements has idiot-proof filter painting:

It also has text warping templates that preserve editable type and edge sharpness:

Sure, it's cheesy but someone making family greeting cards isn't looking for the austere minimalism of Donald Judd.

This is the crafts store of image editors, and it's stocked with all the ceramic angels and heart-shaped cutouts you'd expect to see there. But it has a lot of power backing up tools that Pixelmator doesn't have: healing brushes (like a clone tool but much easier for zits, people, or people-sized zit removal), an idiot-proof recomposition tool, much better RAW image handling, powerful shadow/highlight adjustment, gamma-based Brightness and Contrast tools (available as non-destructive layer adjustments), pattern cloning, and a very good auto-extraction tool:

Come, Mr. Taliban, Taliban bana~na.

Photoshop Elements also has native support for its big brother's filters:

My girlfriend wears filter dialog glasses that make her look like Geordi from Star Trek. It's a source of tension for us.

There's an organizer with metadata and face tagging tools, which works as a Lightroom-style image library manager. Similar to iPhoto, Photoshop Elements has various hard-copy output options (books, CD printing, photo prints, etc) to make it more of a hub for all things images. The Pixelmator Photo Browser isn't much of an aid, so image library management is best left to iPhoto or Picasa.

Is Photoshop Elements more powerful than Pixelmator? Even missing the essential curve adjustment, I'd still say it's definitely more powerful as an image editor. But it's also $40 more expensive and has no Web slicing tools. Whether the extra cost is worth the added features is really up to you, your wallet and your photo editing needs. If you're looking for a retouching application that is also a photo manager, CD label printer, easy photo collage maker, etc. then Photoshop Elements is your best option, and worth the $100. But don't expect to love the way it feels and don't expect it to gain advanced features like curves, as Adobe will always be concerned about eating into Photoshop's market share by giving it professional features. At least with Pixelmator, you know that the devs aren't holding anything back.